


brighter than the sun

by pasdecoeur



Series: batlantern works [1]
Category: DCU, DCU (Comics), Justice League: War
Genre: Coda, M/M, Translation Available, bruce is just. BLOWN AWAY. by hal's butt, this is purely ridiculous nonsense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-30
Updated: 2018-09-30
Packaged: 2019-07-20 16:36:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16141223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pasdecoeur/pseuds/pasdecoeur
Summary: [Coda to Justice League: War] [...kinda]In which Clark is baffled, Bruce feels unfairly victimized, Hal wants to know what the fuss is all about and Dick desperately needs a therapist. Or a hug.Translation into 中文 availablehereby Miffy_Liu!





	brighter than the sun

**Author's Note:**

> okay so PRIMARY DIVERGENCE FROM CANON: clark and bruce have a had a couple of non-antagonistic, only-mildly-homicidal run-ins before the darkseid event. that's it, that's the background, carry on.

"Bruce just _told_ you?" Superman asked afterwards, for the nine-hundredth time.

"Yes...?" Hal replied. "I mean, he told me fuck off pretty significantly first."

Superman waved this off. "He does that with everyone." There was a lot of eye-narrowing, which Hal was used to, except maybe not from _Superman_. "You're seriously telling me he just. Took off his cowl. And told you his name. In the middle of downtown Metropolis."

"Uh. Yes. Did he not. Did he not do that with you?"

"He didn't have to," Superman said, sounding distracted. "I x-rayed him."

"Oh." It was an 'oh' that said, ' _oh_ , you stupid goddamn motherfucker, even **_I_** can tell that was a bad idea,' except Hal was pretty sure his tongue would shrivel off and _die_ if he swore in front of _Superman_. "Okay," he said instead. "But... See, he figured out my name, right, so I think he was just trying to keep things fair."

Superman stared at Hal like he was _deranged_.

* * *

 

In Hal's defense, this was before he found out that:  
a) Batman told no one about his secret identity, outside of the Robins, ever,  
and b) he hoarded secrets like a kleptomaniacal dragon in a jewellery store, and didn't believe in fair play, like, at all.

* * *

 

"So you just _**told**_ him," Dick repeated. He realized of course, that he was doing an excellent impression of a brain-damaged parrot, but it was...

It was hard to compute, is what it was, and Dick couldn't help himself.

Bruce's shoulders were a tense, high line against the glare of the Batcomputer. "Yes," he bit off shortly. "The man claimed to be the most powerful force in the universe-"

"-other than _Superman_ , obviously-"

"-and he was able to credibly back up that claim. I deduced it would be... expedient to the process of establishing trust-"

"-to do a _striptease_ in the middle of downtown Metropolis?!" There was a faintly hysterical note in Dick's voice, but really - could he be blamed for that?

Bruce actually spun around in his chair. Hoo boy. Shit just got real. "I took off my _cowl_."

"I'm sorry," Dick sniped, wavering between horror and amusement, "did I say something different?"

"I was trying to avoid getting x-rayed," Bruce gritted out. "Again."

"How do you know he would do that? How do you know he _**could**_ do that?! Did you _ask_ him if he had x-ray capabilities?! Did you take a breather while fighting off the _alien monster army_ , and, go, 'Hey, Lantern, quick question, do you have _x-ray eyes_?!'"

"I don't, actually," said the new voice, and both of them twitched a little before turning to the main entrance of the Batcave.

"Lantern," Bruce said, flat and toneless, like he hadn't Taken Off His Cowl for this man.

This man, who was...  
Huh.

Actually kinda hot.

...if by the same measure, the sun's photosphere was 'kinda warm', and the surface of Pluto was 'kinda inhospitable'.

"Bats," Lantern replied easily, and wow, that spandex really... uh, clung. Didn't it? Dick swallowed dryly and thanked whatever God was listening that he wore a cup under his suit. "And this must be Nightwing. Hey. Heard a lot about you."

Dick nodded. He wasn't sure his voice had come back online yet.

" _Why_ are _**you**_ here?" Bruce asked, growly and incredibly rude, but Lantern just laughed, drifting down the staircase and into the Cave proper, tipping back his head in a blindingly white smile.

"Can it, Spooky. I'm not afraid of you."

Bruce did that thing where he raised his eyebrow underneath the cowl, radiating icy chill all over the place, and Lantern still _grinned_. What the hell.

“Oh yeah. _There's_ the love," he drawled, low and mocking, like something out of a cheap porno, and Dick was- was _dying_. "It's a courtesy call," Lantern continued, and he was all business all of a sudden, Dick was gonna die of  _whiplash_. "There's a freight container of dead alien corpses sitting in Gotham's docks. I need to confiscate it, get it back to Oa, and hopefully, get a lead on who's running the extraterrestrial meat market in this corner of the galaxy."

"So _that's_ what in there," Bruce murmured, sounding pleased. He got to his feet, and punched in a quick string of code, switching the computer for Dick's homescreen preferences. "I'll go with you."

"You will?" Dick asked, and oh, _thanks_ voice, _now_ you come back, when I absolutely Do Not _**need**_ you.

Bruce and Lantern swivelled to look at him, one bland, the other appraising.

"Yes," Bruce said, doing that old, familiar I- _ **Am**_ ,-in-fact,-The-Boss-Of-You voice. "You're on monitor duty."

"I am?" Dick was slowly losing his grip on reality.

"Yes."

"...coool," Lantern said. "Hey, you want a lift, Bats?"

Bruce did a thing, with his mouth then, that... Jesus fuck, was that a _smirk_.  
Was his dad smirking at some dude in _green spandex._  
Was this _happening_.

"No," Bruce murmured, as they made their way to the podium at the back, where all the best toys were. "We're taking the car," he said, deep and sort of... liquid, and even Dick's insides did that funny, flopping thing they did whenever he quietly acknowledged Bruce was actually _painfully_ hot and he was never, never going to get the therapy he needed for that, ever.

Lantern floated behind him, eyebrow arched and eyes drifting casually down Bruce’s cape, assessing. Maybe the guy did have x-ray vision.

Dick waited patiently (read: squirmed where was stood until they finally roared away in the Batmobile, and wasn't that nice, just a couple of platonic dudes on a fun, late night drive through town- ha ha) before diving for his phone and hitting speed-dial.

"Jason. _Jason_. Oh God. No, what? No I'm not _dying_. I think Bruce has a _boyfriend_."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> idk i'll add more to this at some point???  
> 

**Author's Note:**

> (...yeah there used to be a second chapter. and then i whooshed it away. go figure.)  
> thanks for reading, hit kudos if you liked it and let me know what you thought.


End file.
